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King 5 TV reports that Mayor Ed Murray, along with the tourism marketing arm of the City of Seattle, is heading up an effort to draw homosexuals from all over the world to Seattle and western Washington.
The campaign "Marry Me In Seattle" is advertising nationally with winners being drawn each week. The ads run in various homosexual newspapers, web sites, etc., with catch phrases like, "Hey, come get married in Seattle."
Mayor Murray, himself openly homosexual, officiated the "marriage" of Zacery Baker and Samuel Bush from St. Paul, Minn. Wednesday night at Canlis restaurant.
They were winners of the weekly drawing from over 300 entries.
Mayor Murray told King 5 the attraction to Seattle and western Washington "says a lot about our city as a place of tolerance."
Many activists in Seattle want the city to be known for its "tolerance," but is it?
And how does Mayor Murray define tolerance?
Recent studies and past remarks from a then prominent State Senator suggest tolerance may be seen as a one way street.
Tom Norwalk, President of Visit Seattle, the non profit tourism marketing arm of the City of Seattle, told King 5, "We knew this would be an attractive place to get married, to come visit."
He says, "It's just so emblematic of how warm and welcoming Seattle is to same-sex marriages and relationships."
He says the goal of "Marry me In Seattle" is to "invite the whole world here."
He and others also claim that 10% of the traveling public are homosexual. Then have also been claiming that up to 10% of the population is homosexual as well. However, the CDC came out with its most definitive numbers ever this past year revealing that perhaps only about 2% of the population is actually homosexual.
Sam Bush says, "Seattle has just opened its arms to us."
Those living in the city may have noticed this week that Seattle's Great Wheel has turned rainbow colors to welcome the couple.
Baker is glowing. He says, "If I was to go back to my hometown community and say 'Hey, I'm getting married,' there would be some awkwardness. Maybe we don't even tell them. Here, when you tell somebody the mayor is marrying us on Wednesday---they're like ah, that's great, and they don't miss a beat."
This move to get homosexuals to "marry" in Seattle, and/or move to Seattle is not surprising. Several of us during the R-71 and R-74 campaigns predicted this would happen---and that was before Seattle elected an activist openly homosexual mayor.
There's no question the couple from St. Paul are carried away with the embrace of homosexuality in Seattle. And I'm sure the mayor believes it is not only the "happiest place of earth" but the most tolerant.
However.
A recent FBI study shows Seattle has the 3rd highest rate of hate crimes against homosexuals in the country. Only Washington DC and Memphis have higher rates.
I personally take no joy in this, but it is a fact, even though the Seattle Times in their reporting of the study is trying with great effort to explain away the results of the FBI report.
While the Christian community was deeply saddened to see marriage legally redefined in the State of Washington, the response of the Christian community has been sadness, prayer and resolve to elect people who reflect our values in coming elections.
I do not condone, in any way, any kind of expressed hate or hate crimes toward anyone, under any circumstances. The Christians I have know and am working with across the state share that belief.
I am merely pointing out that, according to the FBI, everyone is apparently not on board with the mayor and his activist colleagues.
The mayor says the attraction to Seattle "Says a lot about our city as a place of tolerance."
This too, raises the question of how the mayor defines tolerance.
Last year when Chick-fil-A announced they were coming to Seattle and the Puget Sound area, then Senator Ed Murray (and mayoral candidate) reacted publicly saying he was "stunned" that they would consider coming to Seattle.
The head of Cick-fil-A, Dan Cathy, you will remember publicly supported marriage as only between one man and one woman. Following his public statements to that effect, the homosexual community launched a boycott against the very successful 2,000 + store restaurant chain.
KIRO TV 7 reported that Murray said, "I'm stunned...If they want to be in Seattle, they have to obey the civil rights laws that protect our citizens, civil rights laws that I passed."
Essex Porter, reporting for Kiro 7, said in his report, "Neither Murray nor McGinn [then mayor] wants to see Chich-fil-A in Seattle."
I have known Essex for a long time, while I don't agree with some of his views, he is a good and honest reporter.
Is the reaction by Murray and McGinn one that displays tolerance?
McGinn promised to process them according to the rules, "because the land use code doesn't have a provision about bigotry of owners."
Is it not bigotry and intolerance for elected leaders in the State, now mayor, and then mayor of Seattle to publicly express that because Dan Cathy believes in biblical values, specifically biblical marriage, he is not welcome in Seattle----but they have no legal means to stop him?
Even the zoning commission was weighing in publicly complaining that there was probably no way to stop him because of the existing zoning of the lot on Northeast Northgate Way and Roosevelt Way Northeast, suggesting that if Chick-fil-A needed a zone change, "then" they would have some leverage to shut him out of the city.
Now Mr. Cathy and Chick-fil-A are planning to open restaurants in Bellevue, Lynwood and Tacoma in March of 2015.
The Seattle Weekly is continuing to echo Mayor Murray's brand of tolerance, as they hopefully write, "It will be interesting to see if the lingering ill will affect sales in our super gay Puget Sound region---although admittedly, Bellevue, Lynwood and Tacoma are a bit different than Seattle.
Indeed they are.
And the generally understood definition of "tolerance" is more than a bit different than the definition Mayor Murray and his colleagues are attaching to it.
Seattle may be a "warm, welcoming and tolerant" city, as Norwalk and Murray claim---if you're a homosexual. If not, you better not express any views that differ from their new normal.
Be Vigilant. Be Discerning. Be Informed. Be Prayerful. Be Blessed.